Near Puerto Escondido (day 2)

Tuesday February 24…after midnight

Mary came by at about 9:15am to tell us that breakfast would soon be ready. She had said yesterday that her mother in law would be making enchiladas, but that has been put off a day, so she thought we’d like to come for something else.

We forget what they were called, but it was a thick corn tortilla with sausage meat and cheese and then cooked on a pan over an open fire. Almost like a mini pizza of sorts. My stomach wasn’t quite right again…this tends to happen pretty much every time we eat out…so I could only have two of those little pizza things.

Thick tortillas cooking over the fire at Silvia's house

The kitchen is outside the main part of the house and is really only a shelter from rain or sun. They do have a basic gas stove, but also use an open wood fire and grill for a lot of the cooking.

They have some parrot type of birds for pets, and their wings have been clipped so they don’t fly. They seem quite happy being handled and are kind of entertaining.

Ruth and Mary with her birds

Nataly and the hens roosting in the window of her grandmother's kitchen

She asked what we wanted to do today, if anything. She said they would take us to a different beach, and into town to do some groceries and use the internet if we like. So we walked over to her mother in laws house around 12pm. Unfortunately Alfredo had to help do some work on the water system for the house, so we wouldn’t be able to leave until later in the afternoon. So we went back to Sherman to sit under the awning and read.

Mary came to get us around 3:30pm and they took us into town. We used the internet for an hour, and then went and did some grocery shopping. Alfredo works nights and had to be at work for 7:00pm, but apparently some of the family are coming back downtown this evening because it is the Puerto Escondido carnival and there is a show and fireworks and Mary asked if we would like to come along. We were pretty tired, but felt that we shouldn’t miss an opportunity to see a real Mexican festival. When it came time to leave, Mary asked if I could drive a standard…I said yes, and she said we could take their small pickup truck if I didn’t mind driving. Okay, I thought, and with some hesitation I agreed. I don’t like driving at night in Mexico, and the traffic will be heavy downtown. So we get to the truck, and there are a bunch of people in the box. It is very common in Mexico to have people ride in the box of a pickup truck, so they don’t think anything of it. Mary had her baby, and there were 6 other small children. In total, there were 13 people riding in the little pickup truck that I was going to be driving!

Keep in mind that this is not out of the ordinary for Mexico. But for me, I had to watch my speed and be aware of driving over any bumps and bad road conditions that appear out of nowhere in the night driving. And then getting into town and finding a parking spot was a circus in itself. They finally pointed me to a really tight spot very close to the carnival. We made it in, but all I could think of was how difficult it was going to be to get out of later on.

The carnival seemed like the whole town was there. They did a stage show with singing and dancing and of course a carnival queen contest with fancy costumes. Then, the fireworks were really different. They build this big tower and then attach wheels that spin when the fireworks go off, and there’s a chain reaction that sets one wheel off after the next. It’s odd not to have any regulations to keep people away from where they set things off…there was a simple fence, but we were a lot closer than we would have been allowed in Canada. We’ve often said that there are far too many rules in Canada, but sometimes not enough in Mexico. But, everything went off without a problem.

The stage and the crowd at the Puerto Escondido Carnival de la Costa 2009

The tower for the fireworks display at the Carnival

The fireworks display lit up

Part of the fireworks display lit up

So then we went back to the pickup truck and I quickly saw how tough it was going to be to get out. A big truck had parked too close, and I had to do like a 15 point turn to get us out of the spot. This, with a bunch of people constantly trying to walk by. Then, when I did get straightened out, I had to back down this hill to get to the road. I was literally crawling because of the number of people around, as well as the people in the back of the box. One of the guys was guiding me, but didn’t tell me I was about to back down a set of concrete steps, which is exactly what he wanted me to do! So I hit the first one a little hard, and everyone laughed, including the crowd who was now watching what I was doing. Finally made it to the bottom of the five steps. It was too funny…only in Mexico!

Didn’t get to bed until about 1:20am!

Total nights sleeping in a motorhome…488

February Fuel $136.00 CAN

February Grocery $218.67 CAN

February Overnight costs $ 119.60 CAN